Supervisor Snacks

  Many businesses seek employees who can simply come in, work, and leave. However, they also need individuals who can understand their business goals and help achieve them. Do you aspire to be a valuable asset to your employer? Would you like to contribute more significantly to the success of your company? If so, there is one thing you can do that will benefit you more than anything else: be your own advocate. Take responsibility for learning how to become better at your job and further your career. Talk to your manager and express your desire to do more than just fulfill your basic job responsibilities. Inquire about tools and resources that can help you develop your skills and become a better employee. If you have already taken advantage of educational opportunities at work and have spent time improving your skills outside of work, it is time to have another conversation with your manager. Participating in industry activities and networking can be financially worthwhile, even i...

Take a video of your home and office.   Let someone be Vanna White and open the drawers, and the doors, and introduce the viewer to the computers, printers, furniture and more as the camera sweeps the room.   If you read the serial numbers, or model numbers as you go and state the approximate value, you will have a comprehensive list of the assets you have – in case of fire or other disaster.   Once upon a time we would do  this yearly event using still shots that we had to print and then identify; it took hours.   Today it is a much quicker process using your smart phone or video camera. Download the videos into a file you create for just this purpose, and then save multiple copies on your home computer, your business computer, on-line, on disc, and in the Cloud.  Be sure to give a copy to others whom you trust, and you should be covered whether it’s Mother Nature, vandals, or fate that has caused the trouble.  You need a quick claims payment when d...

An Explosion! Fire! Panic! Run to Safety!  Where is safety?  When the fire department arrives occupants of the building watch in disbelief as life, as they knew it, is destroyed.  Shock!  Fear! Where to turn?  This kind of sudden and overwhelming crisis needs the help of professionals, help that can be found by Dialing 211.  Dial 211 if you are looking for help in other ways, too.   Not all crises begin with an explosion!  Sometimes they begin with quiet despair and grow.    211 is available in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, and currently covers over 94.6% of the total US population.  Calling this number will result in assistance in reaching available resources, including:  Basic Needs – food, shelter, clothing, rent and utility assistance   Physical and Mental Health – Medical information lines, crisis intervention, support groups, counseling, dr...

The word is everywhere, from Bloomberg to Disney to Facebook; what is it? According to Economic Times, the metaverse is a collection or network of 3D virtual worlds designed to foster social interaction. Using advanced human-computer interaction hardware (e.g., Augmented Reality-Virtual Reality [AR-VR] headsets) and software, users can interact with each other in the metaverse through their digital avatars. It has been described as the future of the internet, a video game, and a bad version of Zoom. Clear as mud? It is as difficult to define now, as the internet was a few decades ago. (And still is.) Businesspeople envision a digital economy, where users can create, buy, and sell goods. Perhaps you will take new home or hotel tours, which will benefit the building and hospitality industries. To gamers, this is a space where they can compete and socialize with their friends. It’s a virtual reality world where goggle and full-face helmet wearers conquer their enemies through individual a...

You both could be threats to your employer due to hacking!  Cyber-attacks from (mostly) Russia have increased 800% since the fighting in Ukraine began.  It has been coming in all forms, and small businesses are increasingly vulnerable because many don’t have the financial resources to protect themselves.  However, we CAN do a better job guarding against the threats to our employers. It takes constant vigilance to remain aware, at all times, that our actions can hurt our companies.  Do not click on random ads, even if we think you recognize the name or the logo; they can be altered just slightly enough that they still LOOK like a normal logo, but are a copy, and a trap.  Check the name in the small print in the sender's email address– often it clearly gives a name that is not associated with the company they are misrepresenting.  Notify your employer immediately if your computer suddenly makes loud noises and a mechanical voice announces you have been hack...

That was long before it was politically incorrect to use the word Dumb. And it is a statement full of old-fashioned wisdom. It pays to understand what our weaknesses are; because by knowing, we can compensate for them. We also need to understand that as our lives evolve; what we’re “dumb” at changes.  When we are young and first entering the work force, what we’re dumb at may simply be a lack of experience. We haven’t “been there, done that” yet and what we expect may clash with reality. Working is generally a little tougher than school and the responsibilities are greater. You have been learning for the past 12 to 16 years of your life however, and continuing to learn on the job should not be a difficult transition. As we get a little older, we expect a lot of ourselves and yet we are insecure. We have a need to show how much we know and really hate to admit what we don’t know. We don’t want to look “dumb”. This is a time in our lives when we need to practice saying, "I’m not...

  Email is two-way communication – usually.   It is often an invitation, or a request, or even a compliment, but all these things deserve an answer. If a friend stopped you in the hallway at work and said, “You are just the person I wanted to see; Will you look up the agenda for the conference and sent it to Pete?”  Would you stand there and say nothing?  Would you simply walk away without acknowledging the request?  Of course, not; you would most likely say you’d be glad to do it.  AND you would probably even let them know when you had completed the task.  Too often that doesn’t happen when we are sending emails.  We see the request, we might even stop what we’re doing to comply, but it often happens that we are busy, or we are distracted by the next email that comes in, and we go on about our day, never acknowledging that we GOT the message, or that we did as we were asked. This phenomenon happens all the time.  It doesn’t matter if the...